Soaring High
by FakeAlbino
Summary: Nothing ever comes easy for Ren and Kyoko. What happens when their relationship gets out and Ren must protect Kyoko from jealous fans? Why is Kuu calling him out of nowhere? What do they do when the Imai family comes seeking revenge for having their family business destroyed? With their relationship come crashing down or will is soar? Find out in this sequel to 'Break Through!
1. Back to 'Normal'

**STOP! If you haven't read 'Break Through' then please do so before reading this so that you can know what the heck is going on. Other than that, here is the looooong awaited sequel you've all been waiting very patiently for! I'm sorry if you have been notified that I updated twice. I've just had some difficulty uploading this. It may start off slow in this chapter, but believe me when I say I have a LOT in store for your two favorite characters. Oh and can I just express how excited I got when Kyoko's mom entered the scene in the manga? It was like a dream come true... Or I guess a story come true ;) Enjoy! And please review!**

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><p><strong>Recap of 'Break Through':<strong>

After growing closer in Guam, Kyoko and Ren's relationship took a leap forward after the sudden appearance of Kyoko's mother, Saena Mogami. Saena wanted nothing more than to make Kyoko leave the spotlight of the entertainment industry and move back to Kyoto where she where she could no longer be an embarrassment.

Ren did what he could to protect Kyoko from her mother's evil intentions, such as asking Lory to give her a manager, Ryouta Sato, and being by her side as often as possible. In the beginning it worked, but when Saena gave Lory an ultimatum to either fire Kyoko or be exposed for employing an underage girl without her parent's concent, he was forced to fire Kyoko. He informed Ren so that he could do some damage control but before Ren could even react to the news, Kyoko left the Tokyo highlife behind for a quiet life in Kyoto at the Fuwa Ryokan.

Fuwa Sho's mother, Sayuri, graciously took Kyoko under her wing as the next heir to the inn, but she hesitated when she saw the conflict in Kyoko's eyes. Regardless, Sayuri set up an arranged marriage meeting with Arata Imai. On the surface he and the Imai Family seemed to be the perfect match for Kyoko and the Fuwa family inn, but little did they know that he was employed by Sayuri to give Kyoko every reason to never leave Kyoto. Things went well for Arata until Ren showed up to bring Kyoko home with him after confessing everything to her: his real name, his past, and the depth of his love for her.

Kyoko accepted his love and his help along with Sho and Ryouta's, who showed up at Fuwa Ryokan after hearing the news of Saena's plans. With their plans foiled and his family suffering from it, Arata sought revenge on Saena by killing her and making it look like Sayuri was the one who did it. The team easily straightened things out and returned to their lives in Tokyo... With a few relationship changes intact.

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><p>"U-um… Ren…?" Kyoko's voice shook as she failed to focus on what she was trying to do. Normally her ability to craft excellent food was so easy for her she could do it blindfolded, but the situation she was in hampered this.<p>

"Yes?" his voice was laced with a fake innocence.

"D-do you think you could b-back up? You're too close!" Her eyes tightly closed as she squeezed the knife in her hands and nearly shouted her words. She was standing at a counter in Ren's kitchen trying to prepare dinner for the two of them. Ren had initially thought that she had done this on her own accord, but when he found out that Yashiro had suggested it he decided to tease her mercilessly. He was standing directly behind her with a hand placed on the counter on either side of her. Standing as close as he possibly could without touching her directly, Kyoko was hyperaware of his breath coming down on her neck from above.

"Hm? I'm too close now? But surely we've already been much closer than this." Ren smiled broadly as he leaned down closer to her. Kyoko could feel heat radiating from his body and goose bumps littered her arms as a shiver rose up in her. All of their past kisses ran through her mind and she got lost in the memories until she felt something press against her neck. Having realized that it was Ren's lips, she jumped and accidentally dropped her knife. It clattered to the floor noisily and she hastily tried to bend to pick it up, however Ren was still too close to her for her to move freely. Once she realized she was facing him, she froze. It was then that Ren gave up on his teasing as he observed her dear-in-the-headlights look on her face and he crumpled with laughter. Anger caused by her embarrassment rose up in Kyoko as she crossed her arms and pouted like a child, which only made Ren laugh more even though he tried to stifle it.

Ren wiped a tear from his eye as he bent to pick up the fallen knife. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist," he placed the knife in his sink and strode over to where she was still pouting. "Here I thought you loved me enough to force feed me all on your own. I didn't know you still needed Yashiro to tell you to do it." He used his grade A acting skills to act wounded by her actions, and of course it worked.

Kyoko stepped closer to Ren in a panic as she waved her arms and shook her head. "W-what!? No! That's what this is about? I'm so sorry, Ren! You know that's not true!"

His façade instantly fell away and a mischievous smile took its place as he grabbed her waving hand and pulled her to him. "Which part isn't true?"

Kyoko's heart nearly pounded out of her chest and her breath was stolen away by his caressing her face. She was obviously dazed as she stared back into the dark eyes of the emperor of the night. "U-um…? W-w-what?"

He leaned his face down to hers, narrowing his eyes. "You said that I know something isn't true. What did you mean by that?" He already knew, but he couldn't help but want to hear the words he had waited a lifetime to hear from her. She had said them time and time again already, but it was never enough.

A lightbulb went off in Kyoko's head as her minions fought to fix her malfunctioning brain. "U-uh… You said that I didn't l-love you enough…" her voice trailed off at the same time a blush rose up on her face.

"And?" Ren asked.

"W-well… T-that was what isn't true… I do l-love you…" She looked down and again her words trailed off to the point that her words could barely be heard. Barely.

Ren's heart sped up at the whispered words, but he did not drop his act. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

She snapped her head up and shouted, "I said I love you!" Ren could feel her trembling and she forced herself to look at him. She knew she was being ridiculous for being so embarrassed after everything they had been through and all the times she had already said those three words in the two weeks since they returned home from Kyoto. The realization of what it all truly meant had not hit home until they had returned. It was as if she had woken from an amazing dream to find out that it was all reality. So when Ren lifted her chin and lowered his face to hers, her heart stopped beating altogether when their lips met.

It was a short yet sweet kiss and when Ren looked down at her again, his expression had changed once again to one of pure exaltation. He understood how she was feeling as he too felt like he was still living in a dream, but he enjoyed watching her reactions as he teased her. He could hardly believe she hadn't run away in fear and disgust like he had so often imagined her doing. "I lo-"

His words were cut off by the shrill ring of his phone. The atmosphere between the two of them was instantly destroyed and Ren sighed as he answered his phone. "Hello?"

He waited but there was no response on the other end. Perplexed, he hung up the phone. "There was no one there."

Kyoko had just finished washing off the knife that had fallen earlier and started chopping vegetables once more. "Maybe it was the wrong number." _It was good timing though, _Kyoko thought, _any more of that and I'm sure I would have had a heart attack._

Suddenly his phone began ringing again and he decided to check the number before answering. He slightly recognized the number but could not remember where it was from. He had received several calls from the same number earlier in the week but had been too busy to respond to them. Work had picked up significantly once he and Kyoko had returned from Kyoto. "Yes, Tsuruga Ren speaking." Normally he would not give his name, but he decided it would be okay for a number he knew. Even if he didn't know how he knew it.

"_Ah. He answers this time. Hello, Ren_." A deep voice rang out on the other end and Ren instantly recognized it.

"Kuu?" Ren could almost imagine his father getting ready to flick his forehead with an intense look on his face. "I mean, Dad!"

Hearing this, Kyoko stopped what she was doing instantly. She looked over at Ren who was looking at her with wide eyes that reflected her own.

"_That's more like it…_" Kuu threatens. _"So I'm guessing you're alone right now or I'm sure you'd never have actually said that._"

Thinking that Kuu doesn't know about his new relationship with Kyoko, or that fact that she knows everything about Ren's past and his relationship to Kuu, he decided to go along with it.

"Yeah, I am. Why? Do you need me alone?" Ren asked.

"_No. I was just wondering if my adopted son is there too and if I was interrupting anything._"

Ren pauses a moment longer than normal and Kuu waits smugly for him to respond. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." He decided to pretend not to know anything for fear that he was just misinterpreting his father's words.

"_Oh? You mean to tell me that Mogami-san isn't at your place and cooking you dinner?"_

_H-how!? _Ren's thoughts shouted.

"_Oh calm down,_" Kuu said, practically reading Ren's mind. "_That boss of yours still contacts me, unlike a certain son. He might have let it slip._"

A heavy sigh escaped Ren's lips and Kyoko puts the stove on low heat so that she could go over to Ren. "Is everything okay?" she soundlessly mouthed to Ren.

He just gazed at her, but his happiness outweighed his exasperation. He placed his hand on her head and ran his fingers lovingly through her hair, twirling a lock around his fingers while he contemplated his next words. "Yes… She's here." Kyoko was shocked to hear him say this and she wondered what Kuu had asked him.

"_Good. Because I have something to ask you two,_" Kuu stated.

"What?" Ren asked as he continued to play with Kyoko's amber hair.

"_Come to America._"

Kyoko's soft strands fell from Ren's hand, "What was that?"

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><p>A man throws a newspaper down on the table in front of him with a headline reading 'Bachelor No More'. The news of Ren and Kyoko's relationship was slowly building in popularity, and this gave anyone who was interested the ability to easily keep tabs on the two of them. The man's chuckle resounded throughout the otherwise silent room. "Interesting choice in title… I guess I have to make that true in more ways than one."<p>

A knock on the door to the man's room broke his scrutiny of Ren's picture. "Imai-sama?"

"Yes?" the man responded to his subordinate.

"The car is here for you, sir. Your plane is waiting on the tarmac," the younger man said with a bow upon entering Kiyoshi Imai's room. "Also, your son has sent a letter from prison for you." He placed the letter addressed to Kiyoshi down on the table in front of him. Kiyoshi gazed at it with a slight interest, looking at the name of the return sender with disappointment – Arata Imai.

"Thank you," Kiyoshi said as he rose from his seat. "What's my ETA?"

"You should be in Tokyo by 10:00 tonight, sir."

Kiyoshi's sinister smile was illuminated by the dim lights of his hallway as he headed toward his car, "Very good."

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading! Please review and let me know what you think! :)<strong>


	2. Protection

**Let me tell ya! Going from being a student who has maybe 5 classes a week to a full time student teacher takes serious getting used to. Plus I've spent the last week super ill. But that's okay because I'm doing what I love and my everyday is filled with 120 8th graders who I genuinely enjoy teaching math to. Yes. Yes. I teach math. As you can probably tell from my writing, I was never meant to teach English. I enjoy writing (obviously), but my grammar is atrocious. Thank you auto correct! And thank you readers for putting up with it! Please review! I'd love to hear what you think and if you have any suggestions for future plot twists. **

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><p>Last Chapter:<p>

Kyoko is cooking dinner for her and Ren at his apartment when Ren is suddenly contacted by his father, Kuu Hizuri. Without beating around the bush, Kuu demands that Kyoko and Ren fly to America. Meanwhile, Kiyoshi Imai (aka Arata Imai's father) is on his way to Tokyo with one thing on his mind: Revenge.

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><p>"You really expect me to drop everything to fly over there?" Ren asked with a roll of his eyes. In the midst of their rolling, his eyes landed on Kyoko who had abandoned her cooking to stare intently at Ren. She was still trying to figure out what they were talking about, and Ren could see a glimmer of hope in her eyes. It did not take him long to put together the reasoning behind the shine as he knew she longed to hear from her 'dad'. A trip to America to see him and Julie would make her blow her top.<p>

"_I'd say now is as good a time as ever."_ Kuu responded._ "Besides, your mother has been pestering me about meeting her new 'son'. Just wait until she learns that you and that girl are together. She'll be pouting for a month that I kept it from her."_

Ren was surprised that Kuu had not told Julie. "You haven't told her?"

"_I want you to be here when I do. I thought it would be more fun that way."_ Ren could practically hear Kuu's mischievous smile.

_Of course_, Ren scoffed inwardly. _He never makes things easy._ "Still…" Once again he glanced at Kyoko. She was half-heartedly serving up the food she had prepared for them and not-so-secretly eavesdropping on Ren's every word. He turned away from Kyoko so that he could hide his smile. _She's so cute…_ Faking an exasperated sigh, Ren finally responded to his father. "Fine. I will have to check my schedule with Yashiro and see if Kyoko's schedule will allow it because she just got back to work, but… I think we should be able to visit you two for a little while."

Any food serving Kyoko had been doing halted immediately as she whipped her head around to look at Ren once again, eyes wide. She had mixed feelings about the news. She was ecstatic to hear that she will see Kuu again and finally meet Julie, but she knew what this meant for Ren. She knew that he had not seen his mother in years, and while Ren did meet Kuu in Japan, they pretended to be strangers on the outside. Finally they would be meeting as parent and child. The time for Ren to go home had come.

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><p>An hour later Ren and Kyoko were quietly enjoying their dinner while they both digested the conversation with Kuu. Ren was waiting for Kyoko to burst with questions, but she was more concerned with the ramifications of his decision. She was so focused on this that she did not notice Ren had stopped eating to watch her mindlessly eat.<p>

"Excuse me. Earth to Kyoko…" He rested his chin on the palm of his hand and quirked an eyebrow while waiting for her to respond. She did, but only by lazily lifting her eyes to meet his.

"Hm…?" she mumbled. A few seconds passed and then she jumped with realization. "Oh! I'm so sorry! What did you need?"

He continued to watch her flail about, trying to figure out where her mind had wondered off to. "Where did you go?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" A question mark was practically visible above her head. _Where did I go? I didn't go anywhere._

"You've been daydreaming for some time now. I was trying to figure out where your mind wandered off to just now," Ren responded.

_Ah…_ Kyoko's demeanor instantly changed as her thoughts went back to how a trip to see his parents might affect him. "It's nothing really…"

Ren's eyes narrowed at her words, knowing that she was hiding something from him. He stood from his seat and went around the table to her. Kneeling beside her, he placed a hand under her chin to make sure he could hold her gaze. "Kyoko… What is it?"

A slightly blush crept up her neck and she instantly wished she could look away from his intense gaze. "I-It's nothing…" she began to say, but her words faded away with her lack of conviction. "I'm worried," she finally admitted.

_I can tell that much_, Ren thought. "About what?"

"You told me that you wouldn't go see you parents until you were ready to face them… As Kuon…" Kyoko began and realization dawned on Ren along with a warmth in his heart. "I'm just…" she began and stopped, hesitating. A half second passed before she decided to go for it. Squaring her shoulders, she began again, "Are you sure you're ready for that?"

Ren smiled at her. A true, warm smile that only Kyoko was privy to. "I am." He brought his hand from her chin and placed it on her cheek. "I didn't know when I would be ready to face them, if ever. I was drowning in the darkness of Kuon's past… _My_ past. But I seem to have found a pretty good lifeboat somewhere along the way." He playfully ruffled her hair and stood up to clear their dishes. "I'll take that lifeboat home after I clean this up."

Kyoko beamed at him, satisfied with his conviction, and jumped up to follow after him. "Let me help!"

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><p>The next day, Kyoko woke early to head to work. Her manager, Ryouta, offered to pick her up regularly, but she always refused as she was still unused to being spoiled. However, that day she noticed that she was receiving numerous glances and glares from all around. Just as she was about to ask one of them, she overheard two women whispering.<p>

"I can't believe it… _Her?_ With _that_ Tsuruga Ren?" Woman A remarked.

"I know, right? I thought he'd only date glamorous people we could never compare to. But _that_?" Woman B asked pointedly. "I can't begin to understand what he's thinking."

Kyoko ducked her head and fast walked the rest of the way to LME, overhearing many more conversations of a similar nature. _How do they know!?_ Her mind shouted.

"Mogami-san!" Ryouta called out as soon as Kyoko entered LME's lobby. Once she was within, he took hold of her arm and pulled her through reception and toward the elevators. "I've been trying to call you all morning. Did you get here okay?"

Even in LME, countless employees were looking at Kyoko with extreme interest. Ryouta could tell that Kyoko was hyperaware of the attention. "What going on?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Ryouta responded in the same tone, but his words were rushed as they head towards Lory's office. "Someone took a picture of you and Ren in Kyoto and now it's everywhere. Everyone knows you two are an item and plenty of people are unhappy about it. He is Japan's number one bachelor after all. To know he's not a bachelor breaks the hearts of tons of women."

Kyoko's heart plummeted as her inner voice whispered with dread, _I never thought about that… Everyone's upset because of me._

"What we're worried about are those women who are a little more… open and hostile with their jealously," Ryouta finished.

"What do you mean?" Kyoko's fear was palpable.

"You'll see," he responded when they reached their destination. "We're here."

The doors to Lory's office open before Ryouta even had a chance to reach for the knob. Lory's silent servant stood bowing before them with one hand extended toward the inside of the office as an invitation for the two of them to enter.

Lory, Ren, and Yashiro were already waiting inside. All three were sitting quietly, brooding over letters that were splayed on a table in front of Ren and Yashiro. Lory was standing at his window smoking a cigar until he noticed Kyoko and Ryouta, "Come in and have a seat."

They did as they were told and sat across from Ren and Yashiro. It took no more than a quick glance to see what the letters on the table were about as the words 'hate' and 'break up' were plastered all over several of the pages. Ren was fuming, Yashiro was freaking out, and Lory was contemplating.

Kyoko picked up one of the letters to examine it closer, flipping it over to see that it was addressed to none other than herself. "How many are there…?" she asks.

"Several. They have been coming in since the article first printed," Ryouta responded first.

Lory put out his cigar and walked to where everyone was sitting. "We've been discussing what to do."

Yashiro glanced nervously at Ren, who was sitting still with his hands folded together in front of him. He looked up at Kyoko and stands. "Come with me," he tells her.

She silently followed suit and they both head into a private room attached to Lory's office. On their way, Kyoko overheard Yashiro whisper to the other two men, "He's being too rash…"

Once they were alone, Ren turned and leaned against the wall opposite Kyoko. She stood stick straight while awaiting whatever news Ren felt the need to share with her in private.

"These letters… Normally I would ignore them. But right now I just…" his gaze intensified along with his protective instincts, "I can't."

Kyoko takes a deep breath in order to prepare herself mentally for what he needed to say.

"We've only been a couple for a little over two weeks, but it's not like you haven't slept at my apartment before…" he began carefully. "That's why I would like you to consider moving in with me."

Her eyes immediately bulged from her head. "Wha-!?"

"Wait!" Ren held up his hand to silence her. "Let me finish."

While she was able to silence herself, her mind was screaming at her and her heart beat wildly. _Ren… What are you saying!?_

"It doesn't have to be forever… We're both adults and I won't go so far as to promise that nothing will ever happen to us. I've lost too many people I care about to do that... Even if I certainly do feel that I will never let you go…" He took a step closer to her to take her hand. "But right now you are not safe where you are… If you're with me then I can keep you safe. Give me a month. Let this news die down…"

"But it… It's so fast," Kyoko stated, mortified.

"And for that, I won't ask you to answer right away. Take your time and think about it. Until then Ryouta will take you to and from work while I call you at night to make sure everything is okay."

"You don't really have to do all that…" she said.

He smiled wryly at her, "I do. I still remember when you had that incident with Reino from Vie Ghoul. I don't want to see you hurt again by any kind of stalker or vengeful fan… I would never let myself live it down if someone hurt you because of me."

She started to shake her head, but he shook his instead to stop her. "Please. Just think about it."

"I understand…"

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><p><strong>So tell me! What would you do if you were Kyoko? Please review! Thank you for reading. <strong>


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